How Security Can Transform Your Business

Entrust Chairman and CEO Bill Conner discusses how securing digital identities and information can transform businesses and governments by enabling online transactions and relationships with customers, partners and employees.

April 2, 2003

We are hearing news every day about the growth in Internet and computer security breaches and identity theft. How big is this problem?

Bill Conner: It's a big problem today. Take identity theft, for example. It's expected to cost businesses $24 Billion in 2003 which is almost three times more than last year. And it's a big challenge for governments as they provide more services online and implement cyber security measures. We are seeing more theft involving not just an individual credit card number, but a person's entire personal information file. We're also seeing identity theft on a larger scale like the recent news about the theft of 8 million credit card accounts by computer hackers.

Our government customers come to us because they have employees who have laptops with identity information on them that can easily be lost or stolen. Banks, like Egg in Europe, Chase Manhattan Bank, and the Bank of Bermuda are offering Web-based financial services to customers for identity protection. Health care companies like Kaiser Permanente offer online services to doctors and patients and need to protect the identities and health care information of their health plan members.

Most executives see security as an expense. How can it transform businesses and governments?

Bill Conner: You know, we always knew that our security solutions could transform organizations in exciting ways, but it took our customers to show us exactly how much. Take the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for instance. They added security to their online patent submissions because for obvious reasons they need to be able to verify information pertaining to the identities of those filing submissions and they need to protect the privacy of the information contained in the patent applications. The USPTO began seeing a return on their investment from Entrust security solutions after processing just 7% of their annual online submissions. On top of that, they got a positive response from their users and are able to comply with legislation and regulations. Now that is a win-win situation.

Let's look at Kaiser Permanente, the largest non-profit health maintenance organization in the U.S. They have doctors and staff who need to access health data from any location without jeopardizing patient privacy. They expect to realize a return on their investment in the first three years and improve service to their plan members.

And how about real estate? Many of us have been through the paperwork hassles of buying and selling a home. Well Teranet is providing secure electronic land registration services in Canada over the Internet for the legal, real estate and mortgage sectors using digital identities and signatures. They just registered their one-millionth secure transaction and have significantly improved productivity and reduced the processing costs associated with land registrations.

I can go on and on, but you get the picture.

What do you recommend to your customers as the starting point for their "transformation"?

Bill Conner: That is a great question. You know, it really depends on the organization's objectives. What we do is we roll up our sleeves and work with customers to understand where we can help the most. It might mean simplifying security administration to save time and money by making it easier for users to get up and running with digital IDs. Or improving the service of a Web portal by enabling single sign-on and access management to make it easier to use online services. Or we can help tighten integration with business partners by securely connecting back-end systems or Web services. It is all up to our customers. If they tell us how they want to transform their organizations, we can show them how Entrust's security solutions help to get it done.

Businesses and governments are facing increasing demands to provide greater access to information and services on line but this also increases the security risk. How can they meet these conflicting demands?

Bill Conner: By securing digital identities and information, businesses and governments can provide greater online access to information and services and significantly improve their productivity and reduce costs. They can ensure that they know who is on the other end of a transaction, that only approved people have access to sensitive information, that an online transaction has a binding record for accountability, and that the privacy of sensitive information and identities is protected. Add to this identity management so you can grant, change and revoke access to a broad range of applications and there you have your solution.

Imagine how much more you can do online with this strategy in place!

What about firewalls and anti-virus software - don't these provide adequate protection?

Bill Conner: The average organization understands security requirements from the firewall and anti-virus perspective, but the average organization doesn't understand what else you should do or could do. Firewalls and anti-virus software have a role to play in security, even though we see frequent evidence that hackers can work around them. However, it is important for organizations to recognize that those technologies do not enable business transformation through online transactions and relationships. They are extremely limited in what they can do to impact a business. This is why I call them 'defensive security' solutions.

What we need to do is evolve to what I call 'proactive security' that transforms businesses and governments by creating a more secure environment that enables online interactions that provide full accountability and privacy. When an organization takes advantage of the opportunity to fully realize the benefits of Entrust across a variety of applications, they can achieve new levels of productivity and cost-effectiveness while, at the same time, improving their relationships with customers, partners, and employees.

Download this white paper: "How Securing Digital Identities & Information Can Help Transform Your Business"